Japanese gaming giant and LV Sands Alum want flying cars and a Manhattan crypto floor casino

A three billion dollar casino of the future proposal is expected to land on regulators desks in New York before the end of the week.

Jason Ader, a former board member of Las Vegas Sands and UE Resorts International are expected to submit a proposal for a casino resort on Friday under the working name, Mirai, which means “future” in Japanese.

The multi-billion-dollar resort would feature a crypto-trading floor and a landing pad for flying cars. No longer the domain of Saturday morning cartoons like The Jetson’s, hybrid-electric and fully electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL) is an emerging reality with Joby’s “flying car” logging 154.6 miles in a single successful flight.

UE Resorts International, Inc. is the holding company of Okada Manila which announced a rebranding in early December 2021 to better reflect the original Japanese company’s wider focus on the global gaming markets. The name change came on the heels of Jun Fujimoto’s company merging with 26 Capital Acquisition Corporation (Ader SPAC) in November which freed up about $275m in liquid capital.

Jason Ader is the Co-Founder and CEO of SpringOwl Asset Management. He joined the board of Las Vegas Sands in 2009 and in 2014 he became the second-largest shareholder in Bwin.party when he acquired over 50 million shares of the European online gaming giant before its acquisition by GVC Holdings for $1.6b in 2016.

Ader comes to the consortium as a blank check company or SPAC (special acquisitions company) a type of business or more appropriately, an investment vehicle that exists solely for the purpose of mergers and acquisitions.

World’s Largest Crypto Trading Floor

Ader told Bloomberg in a recent interview: “The goal is to have a differentiated, but comprehensive, approach to entertainment that goes beyond casino gaming with some pretty cool elements.”

In addition to the world’s largest crypto trading floor, the project would also include an eSports arena as well as a venue for such popular events as the US Open, Fleet Week, and New York Fashion Week.

Not everybody is happy about the possibility of opening a physical cryptocurrency exchange as other financial markets have on Wall Street. One Reddit user reportedly posted, “If you want to get crypto regulated into oblivion, put it on a casino floor.”

The project, known as Mirai (“future” in Japanese) currently has an estimated price tag of $3,000,000,000 but that is subject to change based on where the facilities would be located if approved. Ader and Fujimoto envision the gambling center in Manhattan which would make the real estate alone account for much of the costs.

Flying Cars in Westchester? Not Likely, yet

However, local officials expressed concerns about locating a casino in Manhattan. Alternative locations are also being discussed such as Westchester and Long Island – but the Long Island community has a highly polarized and well-organized resistance to gambling interests and has fought every previous proposal to locate a casino there.

It’s difficult to imagine a crypto trading floor and eVTOL service at any site in the surrounding counties, which are also in the running to host any of the three NYC-area casino licenses approved by voters in a 2013 referendum.

Some analysts have cautioned against approving any casino licenses downstate and near the metro population center as they say any new venues could cannibalize footfall at the Upstate casinos that were approved with the same voter initiative.

Other companies that made the December 10, 2021 deadline to respond to the Gambling Board’s request for proposals include Las Vegas Sands Corp.; Wynn Resorts; Rush Street Gaming; Hard Rock International; Bally’s Corporation; and the underdog contender, Water Club in Manhattan.

Source: Source: New York ‘Mirai’ casino to get crypto-trading floor, Financial Mirror, January 3, 2022